Societe Generale – EUR 4.9bn fraud

To loose LKR 100, I would have to invest LKR 1,000 on a day the market is down 10%: but to loose EUR 4.9bn? so far, i have not seen anyone comment on the size of the investments (bets?) this guy made. Even if we assume a 20% decline in value, he would have still invested EUR 25 bn, which is a large amount for a person drawing EUR 100,000 in salaries. Given that the markets didn’t drop 20%, I suppose the range would be something like EUR 25-50 bn, at a minimum. From what i know about derivatives, you can place VERY large bets with a tiny amount of money, so this investment could have been much higher.

His supervisors too took the rap for this. Good. But what about the Board? aren’t they ultimately responsible for setting controls in place? looks like the small fry and the middle fish will get caught in the net: the guys who are responsible for strategic decisions are likely to keep their jobs. Unfortunately, the shareholder are out cold too.

BBC – How a rogue trader lose billions (link)

So why did you do it?

Have you ever been in a situation where something went wrong, and someone, like the boss asked you “why didn’t you do xyz?”or “why did you do abc?”

The thing that i have noticed is that more people spend time trying to find the reason behind something (often, when things go wrong) rather than try and figure out what can be done.

The first step when things go south should be to take remedial action immediately, rather than point fingers and try to find out the cause – don’t get me wrong, the cause needs to be identified with the intention of preventing a similar occurrence.

Managers, supervisiors: how many of you automatically fall in to a) lets first find a solution fast or b) lets first find out why the container went to Colombo and not Horana, and later on send it to Horana?

Phone weight without battery and air fare without tax

Can someone tell me why phones are advertised without the weight of the battery and why air fare (Today’s Sunday times – Mihin Air advertisement) is advertised excluding the tax?

Can anyone use the phone without a battery, and can anyone fly without paying the tax?

Minister quits: Drinking and driving

Honduran foreign minister quits reads a BBC article (link). ” Honduran Foreign Minister Milton Jimenez has resigned and apologised after drink-driving and alleged involvement in an incident with police.”

This is unlikely to ever happen in LK. And Sadly, our Hon President seems to be unable (or unwilling) to take action against Mervin who couldn’t even secure the minimum number of votes needed to get in to the Parliament.

Question: Should Minister Milton Jimenez resign over this issue? IMO: the police should have prosecuted him over what he did, but after the punishment, he should have been allowed to serve. After all, the offence is not serious compared to murder, thuggery or abuse of position.

Interestingly, the article says ” A local television channel broadcast a video of the incident recorded on a mobile phone on Wednesday”: A new age has dawned where pictures will do the talking. How can we forget the last moment of Dictator Sadam? (link: Do you have a private life?).

31st night

I had the best 31st night ever! I seem to have got attached to a few of my closest friends quite a lot – it is a bit scary. Loved their company when we celebrated an arbitrary day of the year (link to Dilbert).

I had close to half a bottle of Brandy – i paid more for alco than i spent on the food – and loved it; unfortunately some of the fond memories are a blur :’( which is really quite a shame.

This is my first post for the year: All the best!